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Broad excited for captaincy challenge

Stuart Broad speaks to the media ahead of the first one-day international against West Indies

Stuart Broad is eagerly awaiting his first one-day international as captain when England face West Indies today.

England begin a series that will see three ODIs and three Twenty20 internationals played versus the hosts in the Caribbean ahead of the World Twenty20 in Bangladesh.

Broad started his tenure with a warm-up victory over a University of West Indies Vice Chancellor’s XI, during which Joe Root struck an unbeaten century, and he is now itching to tackle West Indies.

Speaking in the pre-game press conference Broad said: “It was the first 50-over game I’d captained the other day. It was fun. I really enjoyed it.

“It was good to get one done in a warm-up game before the first one-day international.

“I actually joked with Morgs (Eoin Morgan) a bit out there because I found in Twenty20 cricket a bowler will bowl six or 12 balls and you’re thinking ‘right, have a change’ whereas I can actually be a bit more patient in 50-overs and certainly help the spinners roll a bit.

“There’s certainly a bit more of a plan towards one-day cricket than Twenty20 cricket, cos in Twenty20 cricket the game can change in two balls whereas you can think slightly ahead in one-day cricket.”

Broad was also pleased with what he saw from his team at Antigua's Sir Vivian Richards Stadium.

“It was a good work-out for us the other day, of course getting the win but we saw Rooty play a fantastic knock,” he said.

“We got off to a good start with the bat and I think we bowled nicely. We were put under pressure towards the end and I thought it was a fantastic hundred (by Kyle Corbin), but we ended up winning by 30-odd runs which is a good margin in one-day cricket.”

Broad is also happy to be able to lead a tour for the first time. Usually, his stint as T20 captain comes after Alastair Cook has skippered the Test and ODI legs but, with this series being used to fine-tune skills ahead of the World T20, Broad is leading a T20-orientated side in both limited-overs formats.

“It’s the longest period I’ve had captaining the side which is good. You get to get your thoughts across to the side,” added Broad.

“I said to the guys it’s actually exciting having this amount of preparation time because as a T20 side we (normally) get three hours (training) and then we’re playing. Being able to improve our skills in training is going to help our confidence and belief in games.

“The guys have really enjoyed the first five, six days; it’s been hard work. We knew it was going to be physically hard work, we came expecting that, but hard work brings you closer. When you’re working hard together you drive each other on and that’s where a lot of team bonds grow.”

Broad fully intends to ensure the six-match series is used to enhance the team’s chances of regaining the World T20 crown they won in 2010.

He said: “We’ve got some areas in ODI cricket we need to improve on. I think our death bowling is somewhere I think that we need our skills to improve.

"Of course that comes from yorkers and our change-ups and that will also help us in Bangladesh. The bowlers have been having quite a bit of focus on the yorker bowling.

"The wickets here are hard to score off the spin which is good for us as in Bangladesh we’ll get hit with spin, there’s no doubt. We’re playing against one of the better spinners in the world tomorrow so it will be a good test for us.”